Update! New restaurant reservation policy at Disneyland DELAYED

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Mouseketeer
Joined
Mar 29, 2013
http://www.wdwinfo.com/disneyland/priorityseating.htm

New Cancellation Policy

Beginning May 9th for reservations after June 24th, guests will be required to provide a credit card to make a reservation at all Disney owned and operated restaurants in the Disneyland Resort.

Guests must cancel within 24 hours or face a $10 per person charge for failing to show up for the reservation.

This new policy also applies to Bibbidi Boddidi Boutique, Studio Disney 365 and cabanas.
 
I guess I really don't see the logic in this since even if someone is a no-show for their reservation, there is always a line of people on stand-by waiting to get in. It is not like Disney is actually losing any money.
My gut feeling is telling me that it will take one person to miss their reservation and get charged the fee then sue Disney and this will stop.
 
My gut feeling is telling me that it will take one person to miss their reservation and get charged the fee then sue Disney and this will stop.

What grounds would they have to win such a case?
 
This is basically the same policy that has been in effect at WDW for over a year now.

It was very good in stopping Reservation hoarding and no shows.:thumbsup2

there is no legal issue here.......Disney can set any policy as long as it is not discriminatory.

AKK
 


This is basically the same policy that has been in effect at WDW for over a year now.

It was very good in stopping Reservation hoarding and no shows.:thumbsup2

there is no legal issue here.......Disney can set any policy as long as it is not discriminatory.

AKK

I am not against what you are saying nor am I against the policy. Seems to me that it will just take a few people to get upset and maybe this will go away. Personally like you stated this will stop people from hoarding reservations is a good thing, so I am all for it.
 
I am not against what you are saying nor am I against the policy. Seems to me that it will just take a few people to get upset and maybe this will go away. Personally like you stated this will stop people from hoarding reservations is a good thing, so I am all for it.

As pp said, this has been the poilicy at WDW for a year now. Certainly there must have been numerous complaints for people being charge $10/pp for no-shows.
 


Who said they would have to win?

Essentially, you did. Disney isn't going to reverse the policy over a baseless, unwinnable lawsuit.

As others pointed out, WDW has had this policy for many months now and has certainly weathered countless complaints and excuses from guests. I see no reason to believe it would be less successful at Disneyland.
 
Actually when the policy was put into effect, there were some complaints, however once folks understood how it worked and that it would open up reservations for everyone, things settled down.

The only ones who really were not happy were the folks that fully admitted they hoarded reservations and this new policy for the most part stopped that.

AKK
 
Essentially, you did. Disney isn't going to reverse the policy over a baseless, unwinnable lawsuit.

As others pointed out, WDW has had this policy for many months now and has certainly weathered countless complaints and excuses from guests. I see no reason to believe it would be less successful at Disneyland.

LOL… I guess we can agree to disagree what *I* meant. And I am not one for claiming I know everything, so I was not originally aware the WDW already had this policy in place for year(s) and it has been working. Knowing this now I completely understand your point.
However all it takes is one extremely ticked off guest and a slick lawyer and quite possible it *could* be reversed, nothing is impossible.
 
LOL& I guess we can agree to disagree what *I* meant. And I am not one for claiming I know everything, so I was not originally aware the WDW already had this policy in place for year(s) and it has been working. Knowing this now I completely understand your point.
However all it takes is one extremely ticked off guest and a slick lawyer and quite possible it *could* be reversed, nothing is impossible.



Well on this one (in red),I have to agree, in today's legal system, nothing is impossible!;)
 
LOL… I guess we can agree to disagree what *I* meant. And I am not one for claiming I know everything, so I was not originally aware the WDW already had this policy in place for year(s) and it has been working. Knowing this now I completely understand your point.
However all it takes is one extremely ticked off guest and a slick lawyer and quite possible it *could* be reversed, nothing is impossible.

It hasn't been reversed at doctors' offices and a lot of them have had the same policy for years. Any lawsuit would be a nuisance suit and Disney would send one of their entry level lawyers and the court would laugh.
 
It hasn't been reversed at doctors' offices and a lot of them have had the same policy for years. Any lawsuit would be a nuisance suit and Disney would send one of their entry level lawyers and the court would laugh.

Personally, I think someone could make a strong argument and win (although I think it would be a silly case and a waste of time, but for arguments sake, I'll state my reasoning.)

I think that in order to keep the $10, Disney has to show that they were somehow "damaged" by you not showing up for your reservation. They got stuck with food, or had a table that they were unable to fill. That typically isn't the case with most of the restaurants that have the credit card guarantee at Disney World now. If I don't show up to Ohana for a reservation, they'll seat someone in my spot, and they will not be damaged or out any money, since someone theoretically ate the food I was going to eat and spent the money I would have spent.

The reason you don't see this with doctors or dentists is because you don't see people lined up or entering a dentist office to get their teeth cleaned without an appointment. If I just don't show up for an appt, or call to cancel a couple hours before the appt, it's unlikely that they'll find someone to take over my appt, and so, they have actual damages, since if they had known farther out I wasn't coming, they could have scheduled a paying customer.

Again, this is just my opinion and I'm just stating this for argument sake, as I personally think a lawsuit over a $10 cancellation fee is ridiculous, but I could see it happening down the road and the party that sued actually winning.
 
This policy was one of the best policies they ever came up with at WDW. It was unfortunate that it became absolutely necessary, but guests only have themselves to blame. The rampant abuse of booking multiple ADRs in different locations for the same time/meal (a practice that even some travel agents encouraged), plus other ADR "abuses", left Disney with no choice. Ever since the policy was put into place, finding available reservations got much, much easier. Of course, it can be said that all the abuse was a direct result of one of their worst and most stupid policies - allowing people to make reservations for a meal 6 months in advance.

As for people disputing the fees and possibly even suing Disney...that is just ridiculous. They have the right to institute whatever policy they want. And why would someone hire a "slick lawyer" for hundreds of dollars (or more) to dispute a $40 fee? :confused3
 
I think that in order to keep the $10, Disney has to show that they were somehow "damaged" by you not showing up for your reservation. They got stuck with food, or had a table that they were unable to fill. That typically isn't the case with most of the restaurants that have the credit card guarantee at Disney World now.

I suspect Disney would have no trouble showing a loss from no-shows.

Lines do form at times, but not consistently. Not at all times of the year...not at all times of the day...not for all party sizes.

They can find a party of 4 for 6pm dinner during Christmas week. That no-show is covered. But is a party of 2 readily available to cover for a 3:45 no-show on a Wednesday in September?

Also a number of the restaurants which require some form of guarantee are character meals which begin serving before the park opens. Admission is controlled at the front gate to allow in only those with confirmed reservation.

People without a CRT reservation don't show up at the MK front gate at 8am hoping for a cancellation.

It's also worth considering the impact on other diners when guests can carelessly abandon reservations with no penalty. Restaurants cannot effectively discern between those who are late/delayed and others who are simply no-shows. As soon as they start letting in walk-ups, late arrivals--which will ALWAYS be an issue at Disney parks between attraction issues and transportation issues--begin impacting other guests.

When all of the slots are locked-in with a guarantee, you start seating early arrivals when some are running late. In the end, nobody is negatively impacted.

Without the guarantee, it's a guessing game as to whether a diner is simply running late or has blown-off the reservation.
 
There is also the loss of customer satisfaction for the person trying to make a reservation at the same time but couldn't because of the no-show.
 
carebee21 said:
I think that in order to keep the $10, Disney has to show that they were somehow "damaged" by you not showing up for your reservation. They got stuck with food, or had a table that they were unable to fill. That typically isn't the case with most of the restaurants that have the credit card guarantee at Disney World now. If I don't show up to Ohana for a reservation, they'll seat someone in my spot, and they will not be damaged or out any money

No. In order to get damages they have to show damages. This is not a damages claim.

This is simple contract law. When you make a reservation at Disney you are entering into a simple contract with them. The contract is that you will show up or you will pay them $10. That is what is in the terms that we all agree upon when we make our reservations. That cool little check box that bounces you if you don't check it that you read and UNDERSTOOD.

If they wanted damages they could get (at least in MI, don't know FL exactly) 10x damages. So 10x what you would have spent on an avg meal. This is the same for a drs office. They aren't charging damages. If they were they would be getting 7-10x the fee for your appointment. That said, it is bad business so they just charge you $10 for not showing up.

Stacy

Source: I do vendor contracts for a living.
 
I'm waiting for Disney to charge the $10 fee to people who try to circumvent the Reservation System in terms of odd numbers of diners. I.E 1 diner making a reservation for 2, 3 for 4, etc.
 
I'm waiting for Disney to charge the $10 fee to people who try to circumvent the Reservation System in terms of odd numbers of diners. I.E 1 diner making a reservation for 2, 3 for 4, etc.

Why would someone do this? It doesn't make any sense.
 
NHKristy76 said:
Why would someone do this? It doesn't make any sense.

The new system seems temperamental towards odd numbers, however the cases mentioned are not hurting anyone else from getting a reservation because a party of 1 will still be sitting at a two top and a party of three will still sit at a four top. Increasing the number in those cases does not eliminate another table from other people trying to obtain reservations.
 

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